Embroidery has been around forever — the earliest surviving pieces of this craft are Scythian, dated to between the 5th and 3rd centuries BCE. Virtually every culture has some form of it in their textile art history.

As artist couple Charles and Elin highlighted, the application of embroidery is endless: add some stitches to your shoes, clothes, or bags to upcycle their look. What’s that, you want to decorate your walls? No problem, embroidery can help you do that too.

The subreddit r/Embroidery is a perfect example of all its possibilities. With 430K members, this online community unites all enthusiasts of the trade who want to exchange tips, techniques, resources, ideas, and to show off their greatest works, of course. At this time, let’s focus on the latter.

#1 My Take On Homer. I Never Expected How Many Hours (And Meters Of Thread) This Is Going To Take But The Result Was Totally Worth It!

Image credits: Comiltove

#2 This Tabby Cat Has So Many Layers Of Stitches That It’s Giving Me A Full Arm Workout

Image credits: Florally

#3 Dr Jill Bidens Coat For Inauguration Night, Featuring All 50 State Flowers. Uruguayan-American Designer Gabriela Hearst Said Each Flower To Between 2-4 Hours By Hand

Image credits: everybodylovesmemore

#4 My Girlfriend Just Passed Away But This Was The Last Thing She Embroidered. It’s A Bowl Of Ramen, Our Favorite Thing To Eat Together

Image credits: HugoMcChunky

#5 2nd Finished Hoop, Inspired By Hawaii! Experimented W/ Layering Tulle For Water Depth

Image credits: DallasNagataWhite

#6 Diving

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#7 Duck

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#8 Cockatiel

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#9 My Most Detailed Piece To Date – Took ~6wks, Single Strand!

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#10 Bubbles!

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#11 5.5 Skeins Later, I Finished My Piece! Extremely Happy With It

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#12 I Made Some Hand Embroidery Design On Sweaters For A Friend And This One Is My Favorite

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#13 Fish

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#14 Currently Making Jar Covers For Some Of My Favorite Herbs

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#15 Borrowed A Page Out Of Hannah Hill’s Book For My Second Project. Happy Women’s History Month!

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#16 I Couldn’t Help Myself

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#17 I Made A Little Reference Piece For My Future Embroidery Projects. No More Guessing How Many Strands I Should Use And Regretting It Later

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#18 First Time Posting Here, Fourth Kit Completed

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#19 My Second Embroidery Piece – A Scene From ‘Howls Moving Castle’

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#20 My Most Recent Embroidery! Im So Proud Of It !

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#21 Made This Yesterday

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#22 A Crow I’ve Been Embroidering For A Few Months Now. Still Gotta Give Him Feet And A Rock To Stand On

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#23 I Used The Holidays To Finish My Lady And The Tramp Design. I Hope You Like It!

Image credits: HardcoreLock

#24 Embroidered My Corduroys Today

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#25 Embroidered Masks!

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#26 My Best Friend Eloped And Moved To A New City! Very Happy To Give Them This Gift To Remember Some Wonderful Things That Happened During This Otherwise Difficult Year

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#27 I’m Very Proud Of My First Two-Hoop Design!

Image credits: jevoudraislepoutine

#28 I’ve Really Tried To Improve My Embroidered Cat Portraits This Year And I’m So Happy About How This One Came Out! I Almost Quit A Few Times And Started Over But It All Worked Out In The End

Image credits: Florally

#29 It’s Not Perfect, But I’m Very Proud Of This!

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#30 I Tried To Do A Self Portrait

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#31 Tried My Hand At Hair Embroidery. Scene Of Jim And Pam From The Final Season Of The Office

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#32 Progress: Nicki, Me, Hand Embroidery And Beading On Cotton, 2020. Whatchu Think!?

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#33 This Embroidery Took Me Over 40 Hours To Finish But I’m So Proud Of It!

Image credits: Florally

#34 And That’s A Wrap On 2020! I’ve Had Such A Great Time Working On This Piece Over The Past 366 Days, I Can’t Wait To See What 2021 Has In Store!

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#35 I’m So Happy With How This Turned Out

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#36 The Finished Little Birdie In Docs!

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#37 A 3D Skeleton In The Undergrowth

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#38 So Proud Of These Sardines!

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#39 Cereal Splash

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#40 My Dad’s Handwriting. A Reminder For Myself. I Miss Him Every Day

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#41 Alien Abduction Mixed Media Embroidery Hoop, One Of My Faves I’ve Done!

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#42 Putting The Hand In Hand Embroidery

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#43 Thought I’d Practice Some Outlines For Spooky Season… Then I Looked At The Back

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#44 I Embroidered A Field Full Of Poppies On A Mini Canvas And Loving The Result

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#45 Update: After All Those French Knots I’m Almost Tempted To Leave It Like This… Almost!

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#46 My First Embroidered Landscape! This Took Me 4 Months To Finish!

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#47 Embroidery Has Saved My Sanity These Last Couple Of Days!

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#48 I’m So Proud To Share My Embroidery Progress From 2014 – 2020. No Talent Here, Just Hours And Hours Of Practice And Hard Work!

Image credits: Florally

#49 Did A Picture Of My Friends On Their Wedding Day

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#50 Floating Embroideries. Embroidery On Tulle Using Silk Ribbon, Tapestry And Threads

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#51 You Need To Squint For This One

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#52 My Girlfriend Did This, Proud Of Her

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#53 Decided To Try And Recreate My Son’s Favourite Sweatshirt From When He Was 6 For A Christmas Present This Year. He’s Now 26 And 6’4”. I’ll Let You Know What He Thinks!

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#54 As Requested, A Throwback To My First Three Hawaiian Shirt Hoops…almost A Year Ago!

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#55 Christmas Present For My Dad. Whenever He’s Feeling Proud Of Me He Will Look At Me, Look Down At His Arm, And Say “Right Here, You Used To Fit Right Here” In Reference To Being Able To Hold Me In One Arm As A Baby. I Love Him

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#56 The Root Of All Trust Issues: Sewing Supplies In A Cookie Tin

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#57 After 100ish Hours Of Work, I’m So Happy To Say This Beast Is Done!!

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#58 Brand New At Posting On Reddit, But I Brought This Little Pink Cow To Say Hi!! I Hope It… Amooses You

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#59 You Seemed To Enjoy My Treehouse, Here Is Another Piece Inspired By The Same Metropark!

Image credits: britneykayembroidery

#60 I’m Very Obviously A Beginner, But My Boyfriend Had One Request For A Birthday Gift, And Who Was I To Say No

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#61 Figures In A Pool

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#62 A Really Impressive Embroidered Kitchen Garden

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#63 Phew! Don’t Think I Will Use Blue Thread Again For A While

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#64 A Present For My Beekeeping Boyfriend. My First Big Embroidery Project!

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#65 First Time I Embroidered With Wool. Love How Fluffy It Looks. What Do You Think? The Pattern Was Designed By Me

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#66 Tried My Hand At That Koi Pond Embroidery. I Love How It Turned Out! It’s A Gift For My Sister Who Loves Koi

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#67 Just A Pile Of Fish Heads

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#68 I Just Recently Got Into Embroidery And Made This Face Mask. So Happy How It Turned Out!

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#69 My Glow Up

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#70 A Billion Colonial Knots Later…

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#71 Death Cab For Cutie- Transatlanticism Album Art

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#72 I’m In Love With This Wave Again So Little Embroidery

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#73 This Studio Ghibli Embroidery Of Mine Has Been Rattling Around The Internet For A Few Months, But It’s My First Time Posting On Reddit

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#74 Embroidered My Dissertation Topic Onto A Sweatshirt!

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#75 For Those Who Always Wonder How Long It Takes Me, I Like To Show Them This Picture: One Year Worth Of Completed Pieces

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#76 Slurp

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#77 I Did Something With My Sweater

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#78 In Honor Of National Embroidery Month…my Studio Wall Full Of My Embroidery Hoops!

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#79 I’m Not Creative, But My Therapist Suggested I Try Embroidery To Help With My Anxiety. When I Started This Pre-Drawn Pattern I Didn’t Even Know How To Hold A Needle, Took It One Stitch At A Time. There Were A Lot Of Mistakes, But I’m Chuffed! I Hope You Like It

Image credits: CarelessFix

#80 My Friends Were Making Enough Sourdough To Feed Half The World, So I Decided To Do This. Flowerbomb…my Fjällräven Kånken Laptop 13″ In Ox Red

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#81 Honey Bee Embroidery On A Guitar Strap

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#82 Finally Finished This One For Myself. My Favorite Pusheen Drawing

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#83 Lazy Daisy Stitch For Daaaays(Ies)

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#84 My Latest Creation – An Embroidered Potting Shed!

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#85 All Finished. Natasha Lyonne In Role As Nadia Vulvokov From “Russian Doll.” 40ish Hours Of Stitching, Mostly Consumed By Her Amazing Hair

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#86 My Grandad Passed Away Last Friday, I’m In Denmark And Can’t Get Back To The UK To Be With My Family & Say Goodbye. So I Spent The Week Working Through My Grief By Creating This Piece

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#87 My First Embroidery In The “Thread Painted” Style vs. My Most Recent, Just Over Three Years Apart. Practice Really Does Pay Off!

Image credits: ell_violet

#88 It Was Out Of My Comfort Zone But Very Proud Of The Outcome

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#89 Made This For A Friend Of Her Beautiful Home Village

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#90 Sunflowers And Pumpkins. An Autumnal Embroidered Landscape

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#91 5 Days And A Hundred French Knots Later

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#92 Wanderer

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#93 Been Struggling With Intrusive Thoughts Lately, This Was The Result

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#94 Paper Plane

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#95 After Years Of Stitching Other People’s Pets, I Finally Embroidered My Own Girl: Meet Abby!

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#96 My First Fine Detail Embroidery Piece

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#97 My First Attempt At Embroidering

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#98 Helped My 70 Year Old Aunt Move Today And Was Just Floored By This Wildflower Map Of The United States. She Said Her Grandmother (My Great Grandma) Had Made It

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#99 I Hand-Embroidered Some Leaves Onto A Dress I Made Myself

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#100 Second Time Embroidering, First Time Needle Felting!

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#101 Finished This Botanical Lemon

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#102 Blue Porcelain Inspired Hoop!

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#103 Did I Just Spend Several Hours Embroidering A Deer To Fix A Very Tiny Hole In My Scarf? Yes. Yes I Did

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#104 Hear Me Out: Another Ramen Bowl

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#105 .

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#106 Howl’s Moving Castle (2004) – Howl’s Secret Garden

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#107 I’ve Cross Stitched For Years, But Finally Made The Jump To Embroidery. My First Piece Isn’t Perfect But I Love It!

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#108 It Took A Month, But I Got My Brother’s Birthday Present Done With Time To Spare!!! Calvin And Hobbes!

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#109 Mice With Their Berries By Mayuka Morimoto

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#110 Frog

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#111 My Endlessly-Talented Girlfriend Made This Freehand Embroidery Of Hogwarts

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#112 My Sisters First Ever Embroidery Piece. She’s Never Even Done The Practice Hoop. I’m So Proud Of How Well She’s Done, Maybe A Little Jealous

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#113 I Wouldn’t Usually Post A Wip But I’m Super Proud Of The Progress On This One So Far

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#114 Shirt Makeover No. 3

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#115 [fo] I Something New… Aerial Embroidery. Its Messy But A Good Start

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#116 Little Night Time Garden

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#117 A Little Progress Every Day Leads To Big Results! My Embroidery From 2016 vs. 2020

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#118 Now The Proud Owner Of Carpal Tunnel Disease

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#119 I Abandoned A Project That Was All Browns And Greys In Favor Of Some Color! Fruit Salad Season Is Coming Up

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#120 Finished My Strawberry Hat Just In Time For Spring

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#121 A Rainbow Of Abstract Pieces I’ve Been Working On This Year

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#122 Slowly Embroidering My Way Through A Book Full Of Botanical Illustrations! This Is My Latest Project – Heath Aster

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#123 Ive Been Doing Embroidery For 2 Months Now And I’m Very Proud Of This One I Recently Finished “Atlas” (Based Off A Renaissance Sketch)

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#124 Y’all! I Just Placed My Last Stitch! I Haven’t Washed Or Finished The Back Yet, But After Over 50 Hours Of Work… I Had To Share With Someone!

Image credits: MiscLisa

#125 The Beach, Needle Painting Landscape, 39 Colors Used

Image credits: Miuembroidery

#126 Spent My First Day Of School Quarantine Embroidering The External Carotid Vessels

Image credits: MedZeppelin

#127 My Wife Made Starry Night Using Inward Spiralling Lines

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Source: boredpanda.com